2. The Meaning of Sanctification - Enter His Rest

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heart. And so it is in making new and fresh advances in hitherto unexplored fields of Christian living. THE FUNDAMENTAL DECISION CALLS FOR MANY SMALLER DECISIONS This fact probably expresses the truth in our frequent reiteration of the term “reconsecration.” I admit it is possible to call these constant minor decisions of the Christian life by the name of consecration or reconsecration. Under such a view a man is obligated to reconsecrate possibly several times a day, but I insist that it is just as logical to call these minor decisions conversions as it is to call them consecrations. The point is that the original consecration was a dedication of the self which commits a Christian to make every one of these decisions, each in its turn, as he comes to them just as the original vows of marriage bind a conscientious man or woman to repeated acts of devotion and fidelity to the companion in marriage. Here is an illustration. A young man volunteers to serve in the Army. Some months later he finds himself on board a landing craft under command to leap out into the water in a hail of bullets. It is true that he will have to make a new decision, but he certainly will not have to join the Army again. The last decision he makes is simply an accessory to the original decision, which he made when he joined the Army. So I maintain that the smaller decisions of the Christian life are auxiliary to the one essential act of consecration which the believer made when he entered the experience of entire sanctification. Nevertheless, these fresh new decisions of sacrificial devotion are not only inevitable if a man is to maintain his Christian integrity, but they are also very necessary, as Kierkegaard has indicated, in order to put fire and passion into the Christian experience. I am persuaded that any Christian life will be enthusiastic which daily faces up to the challenge of the cross, and constantly brings itself face to face with the risk and the danger of sacrificial decision for Christ in the constant everyday business of living the Christian life. The danger of constant, formal reconsecration is that such a practice can create doubt as to the certainty of the consecration previously made. It infects the religious life with the repetitiousness of modern traditional religion and tends to create a doubt of the definite reality of our covenant relation with God. I am ready at any time to join with other Christians in reaffirming my consecration, in restudying its implications, and in praying for a fresh outpouring of the spirit of holiness and power, but I cannot reconsecrate that to God which has already been consecrated to him, that which I have not withdrawn from his hands previously. FORMS OF CONSECRATION While I have never favored written prayers or anything of a mechanical nature in religion, it is possible that some people may derive benefit from the suggestions which they receive from reading well-written prayers or vows of consecration. These might have value by putting into definite words the inarticulate thoughts of the heart. In no case do I recommend them for mere mechanical memorization and repetition. First, here is the form of consecration written and signed by D. S. Warner, on December 13, 1877, though it is important to remember that he had already professed the experience of entire sanctification on June 6, 1877. What is given here is simply his attempt to give in
itemized form the solemn covenant that constituted his consecration to God. He writes: A covenant is an agreement of two parties in which both voluntarily bind themselves to fulfill certain conditions and receive certain benefits. God is the party of the first part of the contract, and has bound himself. 1. ”I will put my laws into their minds and write them in their hearts.” 2. ”And I will be their God.” 3. They “shall know me from the least to the greatest.” 4. ”I will be merciful to their unrighteousness.” 5. ”Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” Oh, thou Most High God, thou hast left this covenant in thy Holy Book, saying, “If any man will take hold of my covenant.” Now, therefore, in holy fear and reverence I present myself as the party of the second part and subscribe my name to the holy article of agreement, and following thy example will here and now write down the conditions on my part. “They shall be my people” (Jer. 31:33). Amen, Lord, I am thine forever. The vow is passed beyond repeal; Now will I set the solemn seal. Lord, thou hast been true to thy covenant, though I have been most unfaithful and am now altogether unworthy to take hold of thy most gracious covenant. But knowing that thou hast bound thyself in thy own free offer to “be merciful to their unrighteousness,” I take courage to approach thee and would most earnestly beseech thee to fulfill thy wonderful offer to BE MY GOD; and I do most joyfully yield myself entirely TO BE THINE. Therefore this soul which thou hast made in thine own image is placed wholly in thy hands to do with as seemeth good. This mind shall think only for thy glory and the promotion of thy cause. This will is thy will, O God! The spirit within this body is now thine; do with it as thou wilt, in life and death. This body is thy temple forevermore. These hands shall work only for thee. These eyes to see thy adorable works and thy holy law. This tongue and these lips to speak only holiness unto the Lord. These ears to hear thy voice alone. These feet to walk only in thy ways. And all my being is now and forever thine. In signing my name to this solemn covenant I am aware that I bind myself to live, act, speak, think, move, sit, stand up, lie down, eat, drink, hear, see, feel, and whatsoever I do all the days and nights of my life to do all continually and exclusively to the glory of God. I must henceforth wear nothing but what honors God. I must have nothing in my possession or under my control but such as I can consistently write upon, “Holiness unto the Lord.” The place where I live must be wholly dedicated to God. Every item of goods or property that is under my control is hereby conveyed fully over into the hands of God to be used by him as he will and to be taken from my stewardship whenever the great Owner wishes, and it is not my business at all. She whom I call my wife belongs forevermore to God. Use her as thou wilt and where thou wilt, and leave her with me, or take her from me, just as seemeth good to thee and to thy glory. Amen.
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THE MEANING OF SANCTIFICATION By Ch
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man is slain, another man is drowne
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most, if not all, specific instance
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views, because nearly every Christi
Page 9 and 10: transformed into the image of Chris
Page 11 and 12: conceivable methods of obtaining th
Page 13 and 14: an obscure feature of rock formatio
Page 15 and 16: Stanley Jones is an outstanding exa
Page 17 and 18: Christ. It is heaven begun here on
Page 19 and 20: sin: “We believe, also, that this
Page 21 and 22: which fully purifies the heart from
Page 23 and 24: state, which would make all of its
Page 25 and 26: Kepler ecstatically as he worked ou
Page 27 and 28: Here it could be said that it is no
Page 29 and 30: a perverted tendency to man’s wil
Page 31 and 32: northern latitudes and never saw an
Page 33 and 34: process as follows: METAPHORICAL EX
Page 35 and 36: might illustrate it in this way: A
Page 37 and 38: times, from the dawn of their exist
Page 39 and 40: thy seed, and my blessing upon thin
Page 41 and 42: While it is correct that the instin
Page 43 and 44: FEATURES OF THE VICTORIOUS LIFE Hav
Page 45 and 46: ecause a few of them stand in a per
Page 47 and 48: shalt break his neck: and all the f
Page 49 and 50: "Holiness is the glorious fullness
Page 51 and 52: which Wesleyan theologians call inb
Page 53 and 54: in order to give each its proper tr
Page 55 and 56: eing manifested in one respect by a
Page 57 and 58: consecration. He needs to tarry in
Page 59: undoubtedly the deepest saint would
Page 63 and 64: thine be done. [53] The famous Bapt
Page 65 and 66: make it eternal. No experimenting w
Page 67 and 68: 25 as pertaining to the time of Chr
Page 69 and 70: Ghost at their Baptism.” [60] Thi
Page 71 and 72: sinner.” The conditions of pardon
Page 73 and 74: est.” Other instances of the aori
Page 75 and 76: especially horrified at an instanta
Page 77 and 78: fullness of the Spirit? If gradual
Page 79 and 80: earnest effort is enjoined. The wor
Page 81 and 82: completed whole. See Alford on II T
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